Hunter College Department of Political Science

Please consider donating to Hunter College giving day! You can gift directly to the Department of Political Science (or any program), and every dollar will come directly to us!

Here is the link to give directly to our department!
https://giving.hunter.cuny.edu/schools/HunterCollegeFoundation/hunter-college-giving-day-2026/pages/arts-sciences/political-science

Slide into Giving Day like… 🕺✨ Shoutout to dance student Oliver Jones for bringing the Risky Business vibes! Make your gift on April 29, and you could snag a pair of limited-edition Hunter socks!… | Hunter College Slide into Giving Day like… 🕺✨ Shoutout to dance student Oliver Jones for bringing the Risky Business vibes! Make your gift on April 29, and you could snag a pair of limited-edition Hunter socks! First 200 online + first 100 at our 3 on-campus locations on April 29 = the socks are yours! Let....

Prof. Rob Jenkins authored a great piece exploring the growing threats to the peace process in the southern Philippines.

Post-Conflict Election in the Southern Philippines Postponed for Third Time: Is Peace Unraveling? A third postponement of elections for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao endangers a peace accord that ended a brutal war.

CONGRATULATIONS to Prof. Jillian Schwedler, who has been named Distinguished Professor, the highest honor CUNY can bestow on a faculty member!

Two at Hunter Named Distinguished Professors By CUNY | Hunter College The City University of New York has awarded the title of distinguished professor — its highest honor — to two Hunter College faculty members.

CONGRATULATIONS to Andrew Loka, who has just won a Fulbright Research Grant to Amman, Jordan, for the next academic year!

Andrews is an Egyptian-American alumni from Hunter College, class of 2024. He majored in Political Science and minored in Legal Studies and International Relations. After graduation, he worked as a Resettlement Legal Advisor at St. Andrew’s Refugee Services (StARS) in Cairo, Egypt for around one year.

During his Fulbright, he will be studying religious coexistence in Jordan, examining Jordan’s approach to maintaining sectarian peace and relatively positive relations between its different religious groups. He hopes to provide valuable insights for policymakers and researchers who seek religious peace in MENA as a whole. After the completion of his Fulbright, he plans to continue his education, pursuing a Juris Doctorate degree and a career in law.

CONGRATULATIONS to Prisha Rao, who has won the Critical Language Scholarship to study Mandarin in Taiwan this summer. A Political Science major, Prisha is a Macaulay Honors student, a member of our Chinese Flagship program, and is working toward the Certificate in Public Policy. CLS sends students to study language intensively abroad for 8-10 weeks in programs specially selected for this purpose. It is one of the most competitive language scholarships in the nation, and Prisha is the only one of 30 Hunter students to win the award this year.

CONGRATULATIONS to Aymen Rasheed (Class of 2027), who has won Hunter’s 2025-26 Carol Robles-Román Fellowship for Public Policy. He is a Thomas Hunter Honors Scholar, majoring Political Science, minoring in History and Women’s and Gender Studies, and is working toward a Certificate in Public Policy.

With the resources provided by the CRR Scholarship, Aymen plans to research domestic abuse and s*x trafficking in New York City’s Asian immigrant communities this fall, and work in Washington D.C. as an intern for a member of the House of Representatives next summer.

CONGRATULATIONS to JK Rajjo (Class of 2027) has won Hunter College’s 2025–26 Carol Robles-Román Fellowship for Human Rights!!

Rajjo is a Roosevelt Scholar and Thomas Hunter Honors Scholar, majoring in Political Science and working toward certificates in Human Rights and Public Policy.

The CRR Fellowship provides students pursuing careers in public service with a range of support, including a tuition scholarship, internship funding, and project funding. Through these 2025–26 academic year resources, Rajjo plans to research the emerging home health aide (HHA) industry in New York City, with a focus on identifying the occupational health and safety needs of these workers. In Spring 2026, he plans to intern with a local non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for policies that address workplace conditions of HHAs and other service employees.

CONGRATULATIONS to Nicole Gonik, Hunter’s first-ever Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.! Nicole recently published an article with Carnegie Senior Fellow, Eric Ciaramella, whose work focuses on Ukraine and Russia. Their essay appeared on the organization’s website in June. Nicole begins a Ph.D. program in Slavic Studies at UC Berkeley this fall. Congratulations Nicole!

War and Peace: Ukraine’s Impossible Choices Two years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, a Carnegie-sponsored opinion poll found that Ukrainians still believe strongly in their national cause, even as doubts creep in about the path to victory.

Listen to Prof. Charles Tien offer a fascinating explanation of how economic anxiety shaped the election on The Thought Project podcast!

How Economic Anxiety Shaped the Election Political scientist Charles Tien unpacks the 2024 presidential election results and what they portend for American democracy.

Last week NY State Senator Andrew Gounardes, who is teaching a political science course at Hunter College this fall, took some Hunter students to Albany where they met Gov. Kathy Hochul. The occasion was the signing of new legislation quadrupling the number of red light cameras in New York City.

You can read about the new law here: https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-gets-green-light-to-quadruple-number-of-red-light-cameras

Prof. Charles Tien just published this analysis that argues that the Republican Party will win overall control of Congress in the upcoming elections. Check out this fascinating analysis!

Political economy forecasts suggest the Republican Party will win overall control of Congress this November As the 2024 elections approach, the Republican Party holds the US House of Representatives with 220 members, and the Democratic Party holds the US Senate majority with 51 seats, including independe…